Israel, Hamas war enters second month

Sunday

Aug 10, 2014 at 2:00 AM

JERUSALEM — The war between Israel and Hamas entered its second month on Saturday as Israel launched fresh airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, killing at least seven people, according to local reports, and militants fired rockets and mortar rounds at Israel.

Joel Greenberg

JERUSALEM — The war between Israel and Hamas entered its second month on Saturday as Israel launched fresh airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, killing at least seven people, according to local reports, and militants fired rockets and mortar rounds at Israel.

The level of fighting, however, remained lower than in the weeks preceding a 72-hour cease-fire that expired Friday. Egyptian-mediated efforts to restore the cease-fire continued in Cairo, but there were no indications of a breakthrough toward halting the renewed hostilities.

Israeli police banned a planned anti-war rally Saturday night in Tel Aviv, citing the danger of rocket strikes from Gaza. Organizers called the move an attempt to stifle dissent.

Militants in Gaza resumed rocket attacks against Israel on Friday after refusing to extend the temporary cease-fire, stepping up pressure to meet their demands in negotiations on a durable truce. Israel responded with airstrikes, declaring that it would not negotiate under fire.

A delegation of Palestinian factions remained in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials. Azzam al-Ahmad, the head of the delegation, said it would stay in Egypt until it reached an accord that "ensures" Palestinian rights. However an Israel team was not expected to return for further indirect talks Saturday night.

An Israeli official, who spoke anonymously under Israeli rules, said that there could be no negotiations without a cease-fire.

Hamas wants Israel to agree in principle to lift border closures imposed on Gaza, permit construction of a seaport there and release dozens of former prisoners rearrested by Israel in June in the West Bank. The arrests were part of a crackdown on Hamas, which Israel accused of abducting and killing three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, a charge the group has neither confirmed nor denied.

Hamas also wants Israel to ease fishing limits off the Gaza coast, allow access to areas near Gaza's border with Israel that have been declared no-go zones, and permit passage for Palestinians between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Hamas officials assert that Israel has not responded to their demands.

"Gaza needs a gateway to the outside world," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman. "There is no retreat from any of our demands."

Israel has demanded measures to prevent the rearming of Hamas after the current conflict, as a prelude to demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, ridding it of rockets and other heavy weapons. Hamas says it will never disarm and that its weapons stocks are not up for discussion.

Israel is also reported to be demanding assurances that reconstruction aid sent to Gaza will not be used by Hamas to build networks of concrete tunnels that militants from the group have used to infiltrate Israel. The Israeli army said it destroyed more than 30 tunnels during a ground push into the Gaza Strip.

Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which assists Palestinian refugees, called on Saturday for the lifting of the blockade on Gaza to enable reconstruction. With an estimated 65,000 homes destroyed in a month of Israeli shelling and bombardments, Gaza is facing "a housing crisis of massive proportions," Gunness said in a statement. "Reconstruction under blockade is unsustainable."

In the fighting on Saturday, 28 rockets and mortar rounds were fired at Israel, causing no casualties, and airstrikes hit 49 targets in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said. Officials in Gaza said the Israeli strikes hit houses, mosques, a security complex and training sites. Three bodies were found under the rubble of one mosque in the Nuseirat refugee camp, including that of a senior Hamas official, according to the Gaza health ministry. The army said weapons were stored in the building.

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